LINCOLN – Today, Governor Pete Ricketts, Attorney General Doug Peterson, and Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) Superintendent Colonel John Bolduc announced the creation of the Endangered Missing Advisory (EMA) to assist in the recovery of vulnerable, missing persons.

“Nebraskans are involved in their communities, and are always willing and able to help their neighbors,” said Governor Ricketts. “With new technology, we’re now able to look out for our most vulnerable neighbors in new ways. The Endangered Missing Advisory, or EMA, delivers information to law enforcement and the media when vulnerable Nebraskans go missing. It relies on the media to spread information about a vulnerable, missing person, and the public to be an additional set of eyes for law enforcement in a critical situation.”

The EMA is a system designed to disseminate information about a missing and endangered person to law enforcement, media, and the public.

The process to trigger an EMA starts at the local level with a request from local law enforcement for the State Patrol to issue the alert. The missing person must be considered to be in danger based a variety of factors, including age, health, mental or physical disability, environment, weather conditions, or if the person is in the company of a potentially dangerous person.

Last night, the EMA system deployed its first alert and supported efforts to find Kenneth Brummond of Rosalie, who was reported missing. Kenneth was found safe near his home this morning. Local and state law enforcement used the EMA system to spread the word of Kenneth’s status.

“NSP has worked with local law enforcement and the media on the AMBER Alert system for years,” said Colonel Bolduc. “That partnership was instrumental in identifying the need for a secondary alert for cases that don’t qualify to an AMBER Alert, but rise to the level that we think the public could be the key in locating a vulnerable, missing person.”

“Nebraska’s radio and TV stations stand ready to partner with local law enforcement to alert the public of missing people through Endangered Missing Alerts on the air, online and through social media,” said Jim Timm, executive director of the Nebraska Broadcasters Association. “These localized alerts will bring attention where needed without over-alerting the public in parts of the state where such an alert is not pertinent.”

AMBER Alerts are only issued if specific guidelines are met, including the abduction of a child under the age of 18. The Endangered Missing Advisory has no age limit and does not require an abduction. There are also key differences in how the two alerts are sent to the public:

AMBER Alerts

Issued statewide

Activate Emergency Alert System

Utilize Wireless Emergency Alerts

Endangered Missing Advisory

Issued based on NSP Troop Area Map

Does not activate EAS or WEA

Relies on local media to spread information

The purpose of today’s news conference call was to help members of the media and the public understand how EMA alerts are deployed.

Members of the media and the public can sign-up to receive EMA messages directly from the Nebraska State Patrol here.